Sue Kersh on Aurora

[GillD46]

Goodness internet is expensive on board isn’t it? I had no idea it cost so much. So for a 100 night cruise that would be £1,250 or nearly £2,500 for the premium package - wow! Do you get the discount off of that?

[Dancing Queen]

Goodness internet is expensive on board isn’t it? I had no idea it cost so much. So for a 100 night cruise that would be £1,250 or nearly £2,500 for the premium package - wow! Do you get the discount off of that?

Makes you appreciate the free internet time we get with our Diamond status on Cunard Gill

[GillD46]

Goodness internet is expensive on board isn’t it? I had no idea it cost so much. So for a 100 night cruise that would be £1,250 or nearly £2,500 for the premium package - wow! Do you get the discount off of that?

Makes you appreciate the free internet time we get with our Diamond status on Cunard Gill

Definitely. Even on the short weekenders.

[david63]

Goodness internet is expensive on board isn’t it? I had no idea it cost so much. So for a 100 night cruise that would be £1,250 or nearly £2,500 for the premium package - wow! Do you get the discount off of that?

It is slightly cheaper (or at least it was last year) if you buy the whole cruise package at £10 per day for the middle package (not sure what the other rates are) and you do, in theory, get Peninsular discount - I say in theory but as you almost certainly buy the package on the first day it comes out of your OBC.

[barney]

Thanks for the wonderful updates Sue and thanks to Denis for posting them.

I have a bit of a confession to make.

There are three in our relationship.

I wake up most mornings with Sue Kersh and her latest update.

Mrs B brings in the tea and bickies and I'll read Sue's latest excursions out loud to her.

It's a bit of a 'menage a trois' even if Sue doesn't know it.

Keep it up Sue, it keeps us entertained

[Dennis The Menace]

Thanks for the wonderful updates Sue and thanks to Denis for posting them.

I have a bit of a confession to make.

There are three in our relationship.

I wake up most mornings with Sue Kersh and her latest update.

Mrs B brings in the tea and bickies and I'll read Sue's latest excursions out loud to her.

It's a bit of a 'menage a trois' even if Sue doesn't know it.

Keep it up Sue, it keeps us entertained

You're welcome Barney, and I'm sure Sue will be well chuffed

[Dennis The Menace]

Wednesday 17 January. Buzios, Brazil
What a fabulous day and resort fishing village this is. It was made famous virtually overnight in the 1960s when Bridgette Bardot came here with her Boyfriend to escape the paparazzi. I left the ship on a tender to the quayside. It was a bit bumpy getting in but I enjoyed the assistance from two strong members of crew. It was a short tender ride and the sea was very calm away from the ship.

We queued up like us Brits do so well. There was a slight delay as the Coastguard had insisted on having everyone’s name who were boarding the schooner. I would have expected this anywhere in the world but the tours office only had the names of people who booked the tour not their partners. That took a little while to sort before the numbers and names tallied then we were allowed to board the schooner. As most passengers were making a bee line for the shade I found my spot in the sun.

It was a lovely morning at sea and we visited three different areas to swim to the beaches or snorkel or just stay on board and enjoy the views. I couldn’t wait to get into the sea and followed the eager ones and jumped in off the side. The steps down from the boat were very steep and it was taking too long to wait for my turn. I had never swam or snorkelled before in the South Atlantic which wasn’t as clear as the South Pacific or Caribbean seas and there wasn’t an abundance of fish. The sea however was very refreshing. At the next stop I didn’t snorkel but swam for the beach instead and our final stop was Turtle Beach. Our guide hadn’t expected us to see any turtles as they were frightened by the many boats. It took some time but we did spot a lonely turtle.

Aurora was never far from sight and when we returned to the Quayside my butler was waiting for me. He had been off for about an hour and had sussed out the best wi fi bar so after a bit of shopping putting money back into the local economy we stopped for a local beer and empanada. It is a very touristy town with many shops, bars and cafes. This is where the Brazillian people holiday. Fabulous beaches and perfect weather.

I was so shattered after the swimming and the heat that after dinner I returned to the cabin so missed the evening entertainment which was The Spinnettes’. We have seen them before on a previous cruise and they will be on again.

Tomorrow we arrive in Rio de Janiero. I will be up early to see the sail in.

[GillD46]

The sail in is truly spectacular, although I realise you will already have done it by now.

[Whynd1]

Really enjoying these reports. Looking forward to Rio.


Lindsey

[Meg 50]

The butler sounds amazing. Can you take him home?

[Dennis The Menace]

Thursday 18 January Rio de Janiero
I didn’t need the alarm and was awake at 05:15 to see Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer statue coming into view. It was still dark but the lights of Rio highlighted the city. Even so early in the morning and dark it was so hot.

The Captain very kindly turned the ship around and we enjoyed room service breakfast looking out on the Christ the Redeemer statue in the distance. It looked tiny as it stands on top of Corcovado Mountain 2310 ft above sea level. The statue is 125 ft high and weighs 1145 tons. I wonder who weighed it? It was built in 1931.

Just before 7:30 a.m. the gangways were ready and passengers started to disembark. We were not meeting our small group until 08:30 a.m. so no need for us to be rushing off. A group of us from Facebook had booked a full day private tour with Patricia (Patcha) whose tour company is called Rio Smiles. The transport was a new upmarket 15 seater air conditioned mini van so lots of room for the 8 of us, Patcha and Steady Ed the driver.

We drove through the old town and Oatcha pointed out the landmarks and told us some history of the area.

Our first stop was Corcovado and Christ the Redeemer. We drove through National Park Tijaca and our knowledgeable guide pointed out the flora and fauna. The P & O trips were going up on the funicular train but Ed drove us to the ticket office where Patcha skipped the line as a tour guide & purchased our tickets for a a mini van ride up to the lifts which took us to the statue of Christ the Redeemer. The queues for the mini vans were horrendous but once again Patcha marched us to the front of the queue and onto the first van. There was only a short 2 minute queue for the lift up.

Nothing had prepared me for the vastness of this beautiful marble statue overlooking Rio or the amazing views from it. We were so lucky to have a perfectly clear sunny day and we could see for miles around us. Patcha led us to the best view points for photographs and took photos for us. This is just one of the many benefits of small group tours. She was so knowledgeable about everything Rio and thoroughly enjoyed passing on the information.

Our next stop should have been Sugar Loaf but she rang one of her contacts there and was told it was packed out with tours so we headed instead for a tour of the beaches. We drove past Copacabana, Ipanema, and arrived at Leblanc which is the very upmarket area of Rio. We stopped for photos then drove slowly back stopping at Ipanema for a photo with a statue of the man who sang The girl from Ipanema, and Copacabana where she pointed out our shuttle drop off point for tomorrow’s day at the beach. The beaches all lead onto each other and were vast. All had different numbered areas and Patcha pointed out the Rainbow beach, the beautiful peoples beach and the family beach. There were some sights, the men in the party enjoyed the scantily clad ladies whilst the ladies were ogling the Brazillian men. Some sights were not so good. one in particular of a large woman in a bikini, which covered not a lot, riding a bike. Jokes were made and we christened her the girl from Ipanema. To give her credit she biked all the way along the beach walk and arrived at the bar we were having lunch at.

We finally reached Lemmy beach where we stopped for cocktails, beer and lunch. We had all decided that we didn’t want to waste much time eating so a snack and drink would suffice. It was so very, very hot at over 40 degrees that the drinks were most welcome. Patcha introduced us to the local cocktail Caipraina which was extremely good and tasted like a margarita. The beers were huge and came in their own coolers. Most of us chose the mixed Kebab on Patchas recommendation which was enough for lunch.

Fed and watered we headed for Pao de Acucar or Sugar loaf mountain which is located by the entrance to the bay. At its highest point it is 1293 ft. It was still busy but once again Patcha earned her fee and tip and skipped the queues and had collected copies of our passports to get us 50% reduction on the cost of the cable cars. The queues for the 1 st cable car snaked around but we were marched into the priority lane to a few comments from the P & O trip passengers who were queuing. There are two cable cars to reach the top of Sugar loaf where once again we skipped the long queues both up and back down again.

On the way back down to town we drove through a Favela and Patcha explained how the slums of Rio ended up having what would be the prime real estate spot in any other city. The best views of the city are from the Favelas. It was too dangerous to stop and we would have felt like intruders. The poverty was unmistakeable and these people are the lucky ones as they do at least have some form of shelter even if shared by many others. There are many others sharing doorways sheltered only by an umbrella.

We drove past the huge Sambadrome which was divided by a road. This just looked like a wide road with concrete stadium seats at each side. No colours at all, but will be unrecognisable as the same place in 3 weeks time as it will be highly decorated for the Rio carnival which starts on 12 th February. It runs for 4 nights and there are six schools displaying their talents each night. Every school parade has to be exactly 1 hour 5 minutes with points deducted for bad timekeeping. The parade starts at 10 pm at night and goes on until approx 5 a.m. the following morning. Cheapest tickets are 100 US per person for a concrete seat rising to over 1000 US dollars per person for a seat in a box. It must be an amazing spectacle and seats are always sold out.

Next stop was Maracana stadium where we had a photo stop and an ex footballer with a Pele shirt on was demonstrating his football skills together with a replica of the World Cup. The stadium was built for the 1950 World Cup and revamped for the Olympics. It is used now by 4 different football teams.

Next stop should have been the Metropole cathedral but the traffic was horrendous. We crawled along at snails pace and got there 2 minutes after it closed. Patcha worked her magic again and although not allowed in the guard opened the door and we were allowed to take photos of the amazing windows from the door. The Cathedral is very modern only finished in 1976 and looks nothing from the outside but the windows inside were awesome. It is shaped like a pyramid and can hold 20,000 worshippers.

Our final stop was in the Lepa area, the Seleron steps named after the man who dedicated his life to tiling these steps. He bought, begged and was donated tiles for his life’s work. Sadly he died five years ago and after working the steps all of his adult life they are no longer repaired. It was still an amazing sight and Patcha pointed out the special ones including her own, a tile with the photo of Seleron and also his favourite tile of a very pregnant lady. Another group photo was taken then we headed back to the ship. We said our goodbyes to Patcha and Steady Ed who had been so patient all day. We were all shattered and in need of a cool shower but the day was so fantastic it was worth it.

The day out had cost less than £70 each including lunch compared to the P & Os similar trip which cost £139 although they did get a full meal at lunch time.

Back at the port the queues to get back on board were horrendous. For the size of this city the organisation was dire. There were 3 ships in with only 1 queue to the security area and bag check ( where was Patchas magic when we needed her). They had however put on a Samba group to entertain the queuing passengers.

Aurora pax had the furthest to walk in the 40 degree plus heat and when we finally reached our cabin we collapsed on the bed exhausted. After showering we made the decision to skip dinner and order room service which we ate with a bottle of wine overlooking Christ the Redeemer and the lights of Rio.

The show in the theatre was a typical Brazilian dance troupe which I would have loved to see but just couldn’t sum up the energy to get dressed. I think arriving at the theatre in my P & O robe would have caused a few comments.

We have another day in the lovely city of Rio tomorrow.

Friday 19 th January 2 nd day in Rio
We both slept very well after our long and exhausting sightseeing day and a much lazier day was planned for today.

A free shuttle was provided from the port area to Copacabana beach. P & O were selling a trip to the same beach for £29 each and amazingly it was sold out. It didn’t include sun beds just the transport. I wonder how those pax that had booked it felt when they saw that there was a free shuttle to the same place.

We caught an early shuttle to the beach and found a bar next to the beach with a table part in the sun for me and part in the shade for my butler. He hates beaches and this seemed a good compromise. It was extremely hot even though still early in the morning.
I left him there whilst I went onto the beach and into the sea. The surf was up and the current very strong. One dip was enough for me but at least I can say I have swum off the iconic Copacabana beach in Rio.

The bar had fast WiFi and a great selection of drinks. I started with water, then a huge coconut which was full of juice. By the time I had finished that it was almost 11 a.m. so definitely time for a local beer. I couldn’t leave without trying once again the local Caipraina cocktail. This time it was made with lemon instead of lime. It was hard to leave this place with the fabulous views of the beach with the surfers showing off their skills with their boards and the mountains in the background.

The shopping area was very close and as this was our last day in Brazil we needed to spend our leftover Rias. We bought some souvenirs and presents then headed off to a restaurant for lunch and another local beer before getting the shuttle back to the port.

There was a small market by the port which we wandered around and spent a few more Rias. There was no queue today to get back and we were straight through into the air conditioned duty free shops. I was treated to some silver and mother of pearl earrings which used up all of our Rias and a few dollars as well. It is our wedding anniversary next month so Garry squirrelled them away so that I am not tempted to wear them before then. The few bits of shrapnel we had left over I passed to a local tour rep and asked her to donate it to a charity.

We ate in the Beach House with friends and had deliberately booked an early time to ensure we had a good table for the views sailing out of Rio. After 6:30 p.m. this area closes to all passengers other than those dining there (supposedly). Another great meal but spoiled by passengers who thought it was fine to crowd around our table or squeeze past the table to get to the rail to take photos. The officers did their best and kept moving them on and tried to block the walk through with tables and chairs but still some kept ignoring them. At one time we had a crowd of 6 passengers around the table whilst we were trying to eat our main course. Some did apologise for disturbing us but did it anyway. The view was just as good one deck up or one deck down. We had no objection to the people dining there taking their photos as we did have what should have been the prime spot but it was people from the other side of the bar and the buffet area that were the problem.

Eventually it calmed down but it had marred what should have been an amazing experience of eating dinner watching the sun set and the beautiful skyline of Rio de Janiero fading into the distance.

We could see in the distance an electrical storm lighting up the sky over Rio. No doubt the storm would catch us up during the night.

We watched the Spinettes in the theatre perform their second show singing songs throughout the decades. The three girls were all excellent.

The Tropical party was on deck but we gave it a miss as the storm was brewing and the wind had got up. They had been calling 2 passengers names out for a while before the ship sailed. Apparently rumour around the ship is that they were still on the beach so their passports were offloaded and they will need to fly to Montevideo to catch up with the ship.

We now have two sea days to relax before our next overnight port of Montevideo.

[Whynd1]

Excellent report Sue.So pleased you had a good time in Rio.

Lindsey

[GillD46]

Sounds great, it’s certainly a memorable place. Montevideo was my favourite oort in South America, a charming place - enjoy.

[Suekersh]

The butler sounds amazing. Can you take him home?

He is taking me home Meg. Garry is my butler. Lol.

[Suekersh]

Thanks for the wonderful updates Sue and thanks to Denis for posting them.

I have a bit of a confession to make.

There are three in our relationship.

I wake up most mornings with Sue Kersh and her latest update.

Mrs B brings in the tea and bickies and I'll read Sue's latest excursions out loud to her.

It's a bit of a 'menage a trois' even if Sue doesn't know it.

Keep it up Sue, it keeps us entertained

Thanks Barney and Mrs Barney. If Mrs B doesn’t mind then neither do I. X

[Dennis The Menace]

Saturday 20 January - Sea Day to Montevideo

We awoke to cloudy skies which looked quite threatening but it was still very warm. For the first time for a few days I went to the gym and the Fab Abs class.

By the time I returned from breakfast my butler had finished the washing and the sun was breaking through the clouds. The aft deck was quiet as it was quite breezy but as the temperature rose the breeze was welcome. I stayed there until it was time for the first Battle of the Sexes of this sector. The men won but it is early days. Amy and Liam who ran the quiz last sector have handed over the poisoned chalice to new comer Andy and Shannon who leaves us in Montevideo. Andy has changed the quiz considerably making it far more complicated than it needs to be. Where is DJ Martin when we need him.

Nigel Marvin brought a group of bird watchers out on deck to see if they could spot any. I think they were unlucky as we hadn’t seen any birds or fish since leaving Rio.

My butler had a Grab & Go salad waiting for me in the cabin as I wanted to get back outside for a couple of hours in the sun. Each day will get cooler now as we head South of the equator but we hopefully have another three or four days of heat before the jeans and fleeces make another appearance.

Formal night and the 5 th of the cruise. The entertainment was the Headliners performing My Generation in the theatre which having seen it very recently we decided against seeing it again, and the two South American dancers known as Tango Cervila. Once again there was no Formal Ball.

We met friends for a very enjoyable dinner which was Marco's Beef Wellington menu and the Port Marinated Cheese was available again. It is like cruising 7 or 8 years ago when it was available every formal night. Normally now it is just a couple of times per cruise.

After dinner we headed straight to Carmens where Tango Cervila, who are Victor Mongelos and Denysa Ferreira, were just finishing their first show to a standing ovation. We bagged front row seats ordered drinks and chatted until the next show started. Carmens filled up very quickly as word had spread that it was actually a Tango show this time not the ball twirling and banging of drums we got last time. They were fantastic. Vincent and Flavia eat your heart out.

I hadn’t realised it was going to be audience participation and was stunned when Victor came over and kissed my hand, threw his scarf over my neck and seductively asked me to dance with him. Omg. He told me to follow him and he made it so easy to do that. It probably only lasted about 30 seconds but I enjoyed dancing with him. The lights were so bright and I was grateful that he escorted me back to my seat. Once again they got a standing ovation at the end. At least I got some dancing in on formal night.

Sea day tomorrow before we arrive in Montevideo, Uruguay.

[Happydays]

Sue, you'll be taking part in "Strictly" next time it's on
I'm enjoying reading your reports.

[GillD46]

Wow! What a privilege, bet you felt very special. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on lovely Montevideo.

[Dennis The Menace]

Sunday 21 January -2 nd Sea Day to Montevideo
The clocks went back an hour overnight and I awoke at 5 a.m. The Exercise Class was busy again and shows no signs of slacking off. We are back to being 3 hours behind UK time.

I enjoyed the Sunday Special Breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled egg and received some compliments from passengers who had seen me dance with Victor in the 2 nd Tango show last night. One lady thought it had been a set up but I assured her it certainly wasn’t.

I spent the morning on the aft deck where the twitchers were out in force as an albatross had been spotted. I looked but couldn’t see a damn thing other than cloud formations. They certainly have a lot of patience sitting there for hours with their binoculars and telescopes poised in readiness for the extremely elusive wildlife.

My butler brought me morning coffee without a tot as I have designated this as my 2 nd alcohol free day. Tomorrow we are visiting a Vineyard for tastings of the local wine and will probably come back loaded up so I thought staying off alcohol today might be a good idea.

The entertainment team obviously do listen to criticism and were pro active. The Battle of the sexes is now back to normal. It didn’t make any difference as the men won again very easily but we are not downhearted.

There was a free Bacardi tasting on deck but as I am sticking to my alcohol free day I gave it a wide berth just in case my halo slipped.

After a light salad lunch I went back to the aft pool but although still very warm the cloud had won the battle today. There wasn’t anything on around the ship I was interested in so I caught up on emails etc.

The evening Entertainment was the 2 nd show of comedian Vince Earl and yet another Game show in Carmens. The entertainment team certainly like their game shows.
There should have been ‘Dancing under the stars’ on the aft deck to Caravan. I was really looking forward to this but unfortunately the weather worsened and it started persisting down .
Of all the fabulous nights we have had sat out under the stars that they could have organised this event. Hopefully they will organise it again once we are going back up towards the equator or even once we are in the Caribbean.

I managed my alcohol free day and I am looking forward to our wine tasting trip tomorrow in Montevideo.

[Dennis The Menace]

Monday 22 January - Montevideo, Uruguay
We docked on time just before 8 a.m. it was quite a pretty sail in but the port area is grim.

After my favourite breakfast of Eggs Benedict I went to get weighed. It is a week since I last weighed in and was relieved to find I had stayed the same.

We had booked through P & O to go wine tasting at the Juanico Vineyard which included a drive past some of the notable sights with short photo stops on the way. Monica our Spanish tour guide was very informative. As we drove through the port gates we saw the anchor and other remains of the German Battle ship the Graf Spee which was scuttled in the River Plate during the 2 nd World War.

Uruguay is the 2 nd smallest country in South America about the size of England and Wales but with a population of only 3 million. Half of these people live in Montevideo. There is very little poverty due to the excellent welfare system . The overall impression once out of the city outskirts was space. Wide roads with little traffic and either parks or grasslands on either side. So different from the cities we visited in Brazil. It is very flat with only one hill with a fort on top which is now a military museum. Legend is that the hill gave Montevideo its name when a sailor saw the hill and said Monte Video which means I see a mountain the official line is that sailers found by Uruguay the 6 th mountain whilst sailing. Monte VI (6th) deo (from east to west) . I prefer the legend explanation but both works.

It was all very interesting but our main trip today was to drink/taste wine at the Vineyard. I was totally unprepared for the vastness of the Juanico Estate with thousands of vines spread over hundreds of acres. Another tour guide from the Vineyard boarded the coach and gave us a tour through some of the estate explaining the process from grape to bottle along the way. No irrigation here and no machines are used for picking. They employ 700 staff and today was the first day of picking for this years crop.

The Ranch House was huge with cellars filled with casks of ageing wines and brandy.
Upstairs the round tables were beautifully laid out with many glasses and a meat, cheese and bread selection to accompany the wines. We started with a White, then three different reds including the local tannet and finished with a port. There was an explanation about each wine but it was difficult to hear because of chatter and banter of the other passengers. After the tastings they appeared to be selling quite a lot and Garry purchased a couple of bottles of rose wine for the cabin. We hadn’t sampled this one but it looked a good colour and contained the Tempranillo grape.

The journey back was very subdued as lots of our fellow passengers slept off the effects of the generous amount of wine we had consumed. We were the only ones who got off the coach at the local markets and shops to have a look around the area. One of the passengers asked how we had the energy as all she wanted to do was go to bed. Jokingly I told her she was a ‘lightweight’ and I was going to find some local beer.

I had a message from our friends arranging to meet up later to go and eat at one of the local BBQ restaurants. After a quick shower and change we set off out again. A lot of the inside market restaurants were already closing but we found one with seats outside that was staying open until 9 p.m. It was a great meal huge portions of steak cooked to perfection. Great company and beer and wine.

The show in the theatre was a Brazilian performer which, having seen a similar ball twirling and drum beating show a few nights ago, we gave it a miss and instead went onto the aft deck to listen to Caravan playing under the stars. This would have been a perfect night for dancing under the stars but the Glass House had moved venue again for the night.

Tomorrow we have another private trip booked to see the sights of Montevideo.

[Dennis The Menace]

Tuesday 23 January - 2 nd day in Montevideo
After breakfast our group of ten met in reception before setting off through the port to meet our tour guide Gonzalo. Some of the group had been on a walking tour with him the day before whilst we were wine tasting.

Gonzalo was a very nice young man from a privileged background. He spoke excellent English with an American accent and was extremely knowledgeable about his country. We stopped at independence square and he pointed out the many government buildings many of which we had seen on yesterday’s tour but this time in more detail. He took us into the 7 storey court room and briefly explained about the judicial system.

The next stop was an indoor market selling locally sourced goods, an abundance of fruit and vegetables, cheeses, meats, wine, beer and many others. We spent some time at the amethyst shop and made purchases before heading for the beer stall where there was a choice of around 10 different draft beers to sample. Unfortunately we only had time to sample one of them.

Next stop was the Uruguayan Football stadium which the locals are very proud of. Gonzalo unlike most of his countrymen has absolutely no interest in football. There is a monument here as a homage to FIFA and he gave description of the how quickly the stadium was built.

A short drive was yet another beautiful park with a huge bronze statue of cows pulling a carriage the detail on it was amazing. We couldn’t visit Uruguay without seeing the fabulous beach area but Gonzalo told us that it was very polluted with sewage pipes flowing untreated directly into the sea. No locals ever go into the water but there were some holidaymakers in there. I just hope they weren’t from Aurora. The Montevideo sign at the beach was a great attraction and photo opportunity. The sign is repainted in different colours regularly at present it is for Carnival and represents the Tango dance.

Our final stop was another park and a short walk to a view point where there were many birds and we could see a lot of the city below us.

All too soon we were saying goodbye to Gonzalo and Gabriel our driver who only spoke Spanish. Another excellent tour and over the two days we have seen a lot of Montevideo and sampled their food, wine and beer.

We walked back to the market area close to where we had eaten last night and bought a beer in a bar close by which had great wi fi.

Before we returned to the ship we visited the local supermarket to stock up on cabin supplies. Not that we are running out but just in case!

The entertainment was Rebecca Mills with her electric harp in the theatre, a Spanish guitarist in Champions Bar, a pianist in the Crows Nest and finally there was dancing in Carmens which is where we finished our night after having a drink at the Pennant bar under the stars.

Tomorrow is the first of two sea days before we reach the Falkland Islands. The forecast tomorrow is for rough seas and wind which should ease later in the day.

[gfwgfw]

The Giant and Ferrets have thoroughly enjoyed Sue's posts from the good ship lollipop Aurora

[GillD46]

Your report on Montevideo brings back such lovely memories. We really loved it there.

[Dennis The Menace]

Wednesday 24 Jan - 1 st Sea Day to Falkland Islands
As the Captain forecast the seas turned choppy overnight and we woke to a very cloudy morning with temperatures at around 17 degrees which is half what we have been experiencing. I decided not to go to the early morning exercise class and instead took a tablet and stayed in bed for another hour until it started working.

After breakfast the sun had started burning off the cloud but the wind was still strong. I sat on deck for a while watching the twitchers waiting patiently for the birds to make an appearance. The sun did manage to burn off the cloud and the temperature rose considerably. Many hardy passengers were out in swim wear despite the wind.

The men are still in the lead in the Battle of the Sexes despite an extra 50 points being awarded to the ladies for the most interesting thing brought back from Montevideo. The Battle has become ‘fun’ again thanks to our new Entertainment Officer Caroline.

The sea calmed down considerably during late afternoon and I just lazed the rest of the afternoon away.

The evening entertainment was an after dinner speaker in Carmens. Even Garry who is a football fan didn’t want to go to listen to David Fairclough ‘ Super Sub’ a former Liverpool player. How can that be evening entertainment in a main venue?

Victor Michael an outstanding vocalist performed in the theatre and although we have seen him before a few years ago he is a brilliant singer with a wide range of styles. He kept us entertained and had the audience singing along to some well known classics.

There was dancing in Masquerades and various musicians playing around the ship in the different venues but it must have been Caravans night off as I couldn’t find them mentioned in the Horizon.

Tomorrow is another Sea Day before we reach the Falklands.

[Dennis The Menace]

Thursday 25 January- Final Sea Day to Falklands
We woke to another very sunny clear day and much calmer than yesterday with only very small wavelets.

There were vouchers in our pigeon hole to buy spirits for In Cabin Consumption . This was a strictly one day offer just like last sectors vouchers were a strictly one day offer. We didn’t need anything so passed on the offer but the queue was enormous.

I sat out for a while but it was too cold unless well wrapped up. The twitchers were out and I could almost feel their excitement as we get closer to land and sightings get more regular.

I had sorted out my summer t-shirts for washing and storing away until we reach warmer climes and took my jeans and fleeces out once again. I was surprised to find my jeans still fit so no need to delve under the bed for the ‘Big’ suitcase. We will have around 12 days of cooler weather until we reach Valparaiso when the weather should be hot again.

Garry went to the Falklands war speaker Tony Green and where John Bartram announced that the evening entertainment tomorrow in the theatre would be a question and answer session with Tony Green. He is a great speaker but really! evening entertainment in the main venue? Even Tony Green was surprised as he had intended on having a ‘lash’ tomorrow with a few mates.

I went to the Battle of the Sexes where the the ladies gained 100 points. We are still behind but catching up fast.

After lunch I went outside and saw the elusive Albatross and giant Petrel as well as a Whale. I was told there was a pod of Whales but I only saw the one. I had my jeans and fleece on and although the sun was lovely it was still cold but there were people on sun loungers enjoying the rays. Very hardy souls.

When tomorrow’s Horizon arrived the evening entertainment got worse as there was not only a speaker in the theatre but also a speaker on Shakespeare in Carmens. It is apparently light hearted. We will see. At least there is the Orchestra playing jazz in the Crows Nest.

Formal night and Burns night with the Parade of the Haggis and Lauren, one of the dancers who is from Scotland, did a fantastic rendition without a script of Robert Burns Ode to the Haggis. I have to say this is the best we have seen and heard on any ship. Unfortunately the bagpipes were taped rather than the real thing but you can’t have everything.

The entertainment in the theatre didn’t appeal as it was another vocalist this time Giselle Summers performing songs from the musicals like last night. We have seen her before so won’t be missing anything.

At last a Formal Night Ball in Carmens dancing to the music of Caravan.

Tomorrow we are in the Falklands and I have an early trip to see the Penguins.

Friday 26 January - The Falkland Islands
Will we or Won’t we get into the Falkland Isles has been the main topic of conversation since we first set off from Southampton. Stories of the number of cruises done to this area and not managed to get in, but we were lucky. Although there was a wind, there was only a slight swell as the Captain found his anchorage just before 8 a.m.

I went on a P & O trip to Sparrow Cove to see the penguins. It involved a launch which picked us up from the ship and delivered us to a pontoon - a 30 minute 4 x 4 drive over rough boggy bleak terrain to Sparrow Cove where the penguins were waiting to greet us. The same trip was running every 30 minutes throughout the day and only 12 passengers per trip. Our driver Julie was a 5 th generation local and gave us a lot of information about the islands and islanders. She was only 5 years old when the Argies invaded in 1982 but can remember how frightened she felt. Like all of the islanders she welcomes the British and regards Margaret Thatcher as their saviour. Sheep here outnumber humans at 350 to 1 but we only saw 4 sheep. Julie said they were the naughty ones as they shouldn’t be in that area and had run away from the flock.

As she promised, the penguins were waiting to greet us but had forgotten to take a bath that morning and were quite smelly. Three King penguins stood tall and erect above the hundreds of Gentoos. Many were still very young and when some adults arrived back from the sea with their breakfast they ran at full pelt to see what tasty titbits they had found. Just like ‘Happy Feet’ there was one egg remaining which hadn’t hatched. There had been just one Magellanic there yesterday but he had decided to burrow himself away out of sight today.

There was a small hut which served tea coffee and home made biscuits and cake for a small donation. The wind had got up dramatically and the hot drink was very welcome. Joan the tea lady was selling penguin postcards and stamps and offered to post the cards for us. The Islanders are very friendly and made us very welcome.

An hour later Julie brought out another group of passengers and we were taken back to the launch area by a slightly different route to give us a different view of the island and we saw Loggo ducks, wild geese and various birds including an Albatross which flew over my head. She pointed out the hills and the battle grounds of the war. When we got back on the launch there was some confusion as we were told that we were being taken back to the ship but the ship had told us that we would be taken direct to Stanley.
Garry had left the ship to meet me at Stanley at 11:30 a.m. but at that time I was still being rocked and rolled by the Atlantic as the ship was expecting the launch to go to Stanley so had no pontoon ready to accept us. I tried to phone Garry but there was no service.

Eventually we got off and were then allowed to go back to Stanley on the next tender. The sea was very choppy and the tender operation was certainly challenging as passengers on trips who were on the tender were almost an hour late for their trip. There was lots of moaning and whingeing but at least we had actually managed to get in and see the Falklands unlike many other past cruises, although I was glad I had done the early trip. It was a fantastic experience to see the penguins in their own habitat at home with nature.

I had expected Garry to have given up on me and be in the Victory pub where we had arranged to meet our friends for lunch, but he was waiting for me at the dockside with our friends. He was very relieved to see me as there was a lack of information as to why the launch I was expected on hadn’t arrived and at one point a launch did arrive with a casualty onboard which worried him even more. The tours staff were around but were not forthcoming with information.

I was certainly ready for the delicious fish and chips that had been recommended and even more ready for a pint of the local beer which is called The Iron Lady. The Victory is a very traditional pub with lots of patriotic war memorabilia around . The locals drink here and were mingling with the passengers.

Fed and watered we set off to explore the small town of Stanley and to buy some souvenirs which of course included Penguins. The houses were very colourful with their brightly painted corrugated roofs. We passed the small Anglican Christ Church Cathedral (which is the most Southerly Cathedral in the world), Victory Green, the Roman Catholic St Marys Church which is next to the police station, and opposite The Post Office with red telephone boxes and a red postbox , before we came to the war memorial known as the 1982 Liberation monument along with the bust of Maggie Thatcher or the Iron Lady as the islanders call her. Everything is close by and it is very easy to navigate around Stanley. The local newspaper is called Penguin News which is very appropriate.

We called in the local supermarket and were surprised to see goods from Waitrose and Sainsbury’s. Everything was very expensive as we expected and we really didn’t need to buy anything.

When we returned to the ship the wind had dropped, the sea was calm and the sun was out.

None of the entertainment appealed so we had an early dinner and returned to the cabin to watch the sailaway which was delayed as the trips were late getting back. At 8 p.m. it was still bright sunshine as we passed the many fabulous beaches that surround the Falkland Islands.

We now have three sea days including sailing around Cape Horn and through the Beagle Channel before reaching our next port of Punta Arenas in Chile.

Saturday 27 Jan Sea Day
I finally went back to the exercise class but know that after nearly a week off I will ache like hell tomorrow.

The talk around the breakfast table was all about everyone’s day in the Falklands Islands. I haven’t spoken to anyone who did not enjoy it but still so many passengers very unhappy about the tendering process and were comparing horror stories of how long they had to wait to get to the island. No doubt the tales of woe got worse the more the story was told. We were very lucky or was it the fact we were organised and prepared to get up early and off the ship early. Tendering is always a challenge and the weather paid a huge part in the problem when the sea became quite rough for a while. I had also heard that there was a sick passenger that needed to be taken ashore and an electrical fault which put one of the tender stations out of operation for a time.

The weather was bright with lots of sun but far too cold for me at around 10 degrees to sit out on deck. The wildlife spotters were out there but not as many as the rare Albatross sightings which caused so much excitement and are now so frequent it’s almost like spotting pigeons at home.

I went to the port talk on Ecuador whilst Garry watched the football scores appear on the screen, then met Denise to go to the champagne tasting event which turned into a champagne drinking event. It was well after 1 p.m. when it finished. Maria the head wine steward promised it would be a ‘party’ and with around 50 passengers it certainly was. I think our table was probably the rowdiest as none of us were wine snobs and had a great laugh. Our men decided not to accompany us and missed out on a great event.

I had missed the Battle of the Sexes quiz but would probably have been too inebriated to have been much help so I went straight into lunch. The conversation once again started to veer towards the tendering yesterday but I managed to change it by asking if anyone had been around Cape Horn before. Some had so I and others picked their brains about what we were likely see.

I met Garry before going to the lecture on Cape Horn, the Beagle channel and the Magellan straights. It was very interesting but after all of the champagne and lunch I kept feeling my eyelids close.

It was the Indian buffet in the piggery and at a weak moment last week I promised Garry that I would go with him to it. It was as bad as I had experienced in the past and I definitely won’t be repeating it. I just cannot understand why anyone would prefer to queue up to pick up luke warm food when they could be sat in the restaurant being waited on by our fabulous restaurant staff. If we hadn’t been with our friends I would have walked out within 5 minutes when I picked up the spoon to get some chutney and someone had dropped it in the chutney and it ended up all over my hands. Yuk .
I spoke to Jason the food and Beverage Manager who suggested that we try Sindhu. I told him I didn’t like the new menus in there but they are now using the old menu 1 as the new menu 3. We will certainly go to make some enquiries tomorrow as Sindhu used to be one of our favourite select dining venues. Apparently they are doing the same in the Glass House and have resurrected some of the old favourites.

It was the Peninsular Cocktail party in Carmens and Caravan were playing. Captain Pembridge gave a speech about the company and finished it off with news that not only one new ship had been ordered for 2020 which of course we knew but that another had been ordered for 2022 and that Cunard were getting another one the same size as P & O s. It did not go down well in the room and there was much hissing and booing. The Peninsular raffle prize was still the Photograph album but surely this must be due to be changed soon. The room was very busy but there were enough waiters to ensure everyone had sufficient to drink.

We stayed in Carmens for the dance night but left earlyish as tomorrow we sail around Cape Horn starting at around 08:30 a.m.